Together
by LoveTiva
Summary: A one-shot from the aftermath of Revenge (10x22). I hope you enjoy and have the time to review!


_The episode tonight was amazing! I was a little upset of the lack of Tiva moments so I wrote this to help me get through the next week. I did love how much Tony cared, but I would have preferred he talked to Ziva and not go directly to Gibbs. I hope you enjoy it and review. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments. I hope you all enjoyed the episode tonight and can't wait for next week. This is a one-shot that takes place after the end of the episode. Enjoy! :)_

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She left the office, flying home in her Mini Cooper. Before she knew it she was standing in her apartment looking around. She sighed going to sit down on her couch. These past few days had been a lot on her. She got into a major car accident, while injuring her shoulder (which still hurt). She managed to fight (with her injured shoulder) and kill Ilan Bodnar. She finally got her revenge and felt relieved. Everything was starting to seem better, but why did she still feel off? The sound of the doorbell interrupted her thoughts. She managed to get off the couch and walk the few steps to the door. She opened the door, not surprised at all by who stood on the other side.

"Tony. What are you doing here?" She looked at him. His nose was starting to heal, but there was still a scar on the side. If she had denied his help he wouldn't be in this mess with her.

"I asked McGee to drop me off. Can I come in?"

"Umm…" She couldn't think of an excuse fast enough to tell him not to. "I was actually going to get a show…"

"Ziva. Please?" He practically begged her. He just needed to talk to her. He was worried about her. She had been so distant and cold lately.

"Fine… Tony." She opened the door wider for him and he walked in. He sat on the couch and watched as she sat in the chair opposite from him. She winced when she moved her shoulder to get more comfortable. He noticed the bruises and cuts on her face from the fight with Bodnar. He realized she finally got her revenge from killing Bodnar. So where would this take them now? They sat in awkward silence, before he finally had the courage to speak.

"I am worried about you. Like really worried about you."

"Why? I can take care of myself." She looked at him annoyingly.

"Do you not see yourself? You are hurt! You have cuts and bruises all over your face." He was starting to raise his voice at her, which he never intended to do at her.

"I know that Tony. I don't need you pointing it out. I have two eyes that can see I look like crap. I saw how I looked in the mirror when I got home. But hey thanks for pointing that out for me that I look like crap! It makes me feel better, a whole lot better."

"I'm not trying to hurt you. I just want to help."

"I don't need your help!" Now she was raising her voice. Why couldn't he see that she was fine. She was always fine. She didn't need his help. She had already caused enough damage by letting him help her in the first place.

"You don't have a choice! I'm going to help you whether you like it or not. I am not going to just stand by and watch you get hurt." He was getting furious with her. She didn't understand his feelings for her. He would always care and would always want to protect her.

"Why? Why do you care so much?" She stood up and walked to the kitchen. Opening the fridge to retrieve a beer, before slamming the door shut. She didn't even like beer, but she needed something. She didn't want to talk to Tony. She just didn't want to be here right now. She didn't want to face him or her feelings for him. "I don't understand why you have to care so much? I don't understand why you have to protect me? I don't understand why you have to get involved when I clearly don't want you to?" She took the beer and went back to sit in the chair. Tony followed and sat back down on the couch.

"You know why Ziva." He sighed. He had no idea where her mind went when she acted like this. He looked at her as she downed most of the beer in no time. He stood up and took the beer out of her hands, before walking to the kitchen and dumping the rest down the drain.

"I was drinking that!" She followed him and walked back to the fridge to retrieve another beer. He stopped her by taking her wrists in his hand, careful not to hurt her shoulder. He pulled the beer out of her hands and away from her.

"Ziva. Please, please talk to me." He begged.

"I don't want to talk!" She tried to get the beer from him, but her shoulder still hurt with every swift movement.

"Ziva. Please." She still wouldn't talk and he noticed her eyes were starting to get watery. She refused to talk to him and wanted the beer back. He wasn't going to let her bottle up her feelings. She had done that to him the past few days. He was tired of her blowing him off. He was tired of her acting cold and distant. They had shared something in Berlin and ever since the accident she was different than before. He wanted her to open up to him like she did in Berlin. He just had to get through to her.

"Tony. Please give it back!" She was fighting him and yet she was tired of fighting.

"No! I will not let you do this. I want to talk and I know somewhere inside of your mind you want to too."

She was losing this battle with him. Those walls she had built the last few days were crumbling down around her. She could feel the tears slide down her cheeks and sank to the floor. He let go of her wrists and watched as she literally was falling apart in front of him. He sat down on the floor next to her and watched as she silently tried not to cry. She looked at him and he took his hand, wiping away the few tears that were creating streaks down her cheeks. They sat like this for a few minutes, either not willing to speak.

"I blame myself." She whispered.

"What?" He asked, looking at her. She had stopped crying and now her eyes were puffy. It hurt him that she was in so much pain and he wanted to take it all away. He wanted to go back to Berlin where they had shared a moment, before this all got so complicated.

"I blame myself for what happened." She didn't dare look him in the eyes because she knew he would just show concern for her.

"Zi, you can't blame yourself…" He sighed, scooting closer to her.

She didn't bother scooting farther away. It was nice to feel his warmth again. It reminded her when they were in bed together in Berlin. "Yes, I can and I will Tony. If I didn't let you get involved you would not have been hurt and your car would not be sitting in a freaking impound lot!"

"I wanted to get involve. Why can you not see that? You got your revenge. The one thing you wanted."

"I do! I just feel like this is all my fault. I have no doubt that I am happy Bodnar is dead."

"No one is blaming you, not even me. I could never blame you. Don't ever think that this is your fault. You knew I would get involved and you knew I wanted to. So please, please do not blame yourself."

"But I…"

"No. This is not your fault and it will never be. Things happen and the accident just happened."

She could tell he wasn't going to let her blame herself. She saw out of the corner of her eyes that he wanted to ask another question. She saw he hesitated, but knew he was going to ask anyway.

"Ziva?"

"Hmm…" She asked looking at him.

"Why were your knuckles all bruised early?"

"Oh, I started going back to the gym. You know… Punching the punching back." She looked at her bruised knuckles. The bruises had turned darker, almost a purplish-black color.

He looked at her bruised knuckles. She needed to take better care of herself, not go punch the punching back when she clearly wasn't in any shape to. "I'm just worried about you."

"I know. It is just this week has been a lot on me… and you." She smiled looking at him.

"It has." He agreed. He knew that they could talk about this another time because he didn't want to push her away. He didn't need her running away again like she did in Somalia. "Not to complain, but my back is starting to hurt from sitting here." He shifted to rub his back.

"Fine. Cry baby. We can move." He got up before she did, helping her up with her good hand. She winced at the sudden movement.

"You should really put that sling back on."

"I know..." She walked over to her backpack and pulled the sling back out. He walked over and helped her put it on.

"Thanks." She smiled. The sling was hanging off her shoulder.

"Feel better?"

"Much." She walked over to the couch and sat down. He followed right behind her and did the same.

"You want to watch a movie?" He looked over at her.

"I don't have any good movies."

"Haha. That is where you are wrong." He pulled himself off the couch and walked over to his backpack, pulling out two movies. "You have two choices that I think you might like. Either The Notebook or your reference to me as Bambi."

"Bambi? Seriously?" She laughed.

"Well you did mention Bambi on the way back from Paris."

She couldn't believe he remembered that. She had made a joke about Bambi to him. She didn't even remember it until he brought it up. She smiled at the thought of Paris and now they had Berlin.

"Bambi it is." He smiled, putting the disc in the DVD player. He walked into the kitchen, coming back a few minutes later with popcorn and sodas.

She smiled and settled herself deeper into the couch. The movie started and they both watched the movie. She looked over at him and smiled. His focus was on the screen. She leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder. He smiled and didn't anticipate her next move. With one swift motion she intertwined her fingers with his. He looked at her with a big grin. They watched the rest of the movie, while consuming the popcorn and sodas.

"Wasn't that good?" He asked once the end credits had started.

"Yeah, I truly enjoyed the rabbit Humper."

He laughed. "I think you mean Thumper, Zi."

"Oh." She blushed and looked away.

"It's ok." He smiled, rubbing her cheek when she looked back at him.

She settled back into the couch. "Tony. Where do we go from here?" She questioned.

"Where do you want to go from here?"

"I just realize I want you here with me."

"I want to be here too." He smiled.

"So where do we go from here?" She asked again.

"Let's just take it one step at a time." He smiled at her. She started to yawn. "We can talk about it tomorrow." He smiled, looking at her tired face.

"Okay." She mumbled. "Stay tonight?"

"Of course." He smiled at her. He got off the couch and pulled her up with him. He kissed her on the forehead, before both of them walked to her bedroom.

They settled into her bed. He took the right side and she took the left side. He turned off the lights and got in under the covers with her. She settled her back into his chest and he wrapped his arms around her waist. She was asleep within seconds. The sound of her snores had filled the silence in the room. He realized the day had taken its toll on her.

"Ziva?" He whispered. She was out like a light. "I love you." He smiled, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek. They would talk more tomorrow. He was overjoyed that she had opened up to him, in spite of the last few days. For now he would cherish this moment with her and things would get better for the both of them. They just had to stick it out because he wasn't letting go of her anymore. He was in the long haul with her. This was it for him. She was it for him. They would do this together. _Together._


End file.
